Seasoning material and process of making same.



N 0 Drawing.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

c'AnLn'rounLLIs, or MONTGLAIRiNEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR To NATHANIEL L. FOSTER,

or MQNTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY.

I snasomue MATERIAL AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CAnLEToN ELIiIS, a citizen of the United States,. and a resident of Montclair,-in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Seasoning Material and Processes of Making Same, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a pulverulentvegetable saline composition and to the process of making same, and relates inparticular to seasoning materials such as those comprising the highly flavored edible speciesof the genus A Zlz'um, including onion and garlic; as will be more fully here1nafterdescribed and claimed.

It has been heretofore suggested that,

onions be used a seasoning and flavoring material, by mixing with more or less salt and drying out the material to make flakes of the onion material more or less coated with salt.

The present invention has'to do more parv ticularly with a saline compositionin a dry pulverulent form, preferably largely free from garlic or onion fiber, but treated so as to obtain a powerful seasoning and flavoring composition, which retains its flavor and characteristic odor for a long period of time. If onion or a mixture of onion and garlic is dried in the presence of salt in an ordinary drying oven under atmospheric pressure, a product is produced which is rather dark in appearance as a rule .and therefore rather unsightly. This materialis also likely to undergo. decomposition through oxidation, etc., so that after a time, on exposure, the characteristic odor of the fresh vegetable is lost. ,Even in drying, changes take place which bring aboutundesirable modifications in the odor of the product. Thisis apparently due to the presence of a large amountof fiber, which acts as an .absorbentmaterialto hold the vegetable juices imprisoned and. away from the preservative action of the.

salt. Merely mixing upf onion or garlic leaves or choppings with 'salt and allowing the same to dry under atmospheric'pressure in an ordinary drying oven for example, does not give the proper contact with salt .of all the vegetable juices,"as osmoticaction is too feeble to secure a: complete diffusion and intermingling of'the salt and juices within the fibers. i v

The present invention has to do more parfor making onion salt is 1% 4 pounds salt.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Mar. 18, 1913. Application filed September 5, 1911. Serial 1T9. 647,681.

ticularly with the a combination of onion* erably comminute fresh onions into small particles and place this comminuted mass in a powerful fpress, therebyexpressing substantially'all the juices of the onion. ,This' juice isthen combined with chopped garlic and salt to make a paste and evaporated in a vacuum pair, preferably under a fairly high vacuum, until the water has been substantially removed. The product is then readily ground, when it may be mixed with starch or any other filling material which tends to maintain salt/in a dry, readily flowing state. Carbonate of lime, in particular, tends to preserve theneutrality of the composition when exposed under severe service conditions. A suitable proportion of the material pounds of 12 ounces fresh garlic, and The juice of the onions preferably is first expressed as above described, combined with .the garlic and salt and when thoroughly incorporated, placed in a vacuum pan, drying until freely pulverulent and easily ground. This mixture is preferably combined with one pound of calchoppedonions,

cium carbonate or 'one and one-half. pounds of starch. By drying c'nmacuo, in. the presence of a great bulk of salt, the characteristicv odor and flavor of the vegetableis prcserved. Ordinarily I do not wish to introduce readily-decomposable fiber into thematerial and therefore in thecase of a season ing material containing onion I preferably employ the clear juices of the onion in mixing the presentcomposition. It is possible to employ the vacuum pan to remove the moisture from the comminuted material which hasbee'n combined with salt and subjected to' vacuum drying and to subsequently remove the fiber if desired. After being dried in the presence of salt, the fiber is par- 40 rfiavors according to circumstances.

- The vacuum drying of onion or slmilar ticularly hard to grind andis usually badly discolored, and for this and other reasons, 1s usually considered objectionable, and I ,therefore, when operating under such conditions, aft-er having dried the salt, onion juices and fiber together in the vacuum pan, subject them to a preliminary grinding, and am then able to bolt or treat by air flotation or otherwise to remove thefiber, or a sub stantial part of it, thereby giving an improved product much more satisfying in appearance and odor than when the entire amount of fiber remains. On the other hand garlic is not so readily oxidizable as onion under these circumstances, so far as can be determined; and as this material is a power ful seasoning material it furthermore does not need to be used in proportions as large, to secure a like seasoning efi'ect. Garlic does not have a very large proportion of juices, which can be easily expressed, hence it is better in this case to comminute the fresh garlic, mix with salt, and dry under reduced atmospheric pressure, although this method'of drying may be dispensed With and the product dried by exposure to mild heat under ordinary atmospheric pressure. A composition of this character is made by mixing one. pound of garlic choppings with four pounds of salt and drying in the open air at about 45 degrees C. If desired the product may be given a final desiccation in a vacuum pan, which aids in the subsequent grinding operations.

The proportions of onion to salt or of garlic, onion and salt or other vegetable and saline matter coming under thepurview of this invention is of course adjusted to popular requirements, and the seasoning material may be provided in various strengths and vegetables containing readily decomposable or oxidizable oils and juices cannot be carried out to advantage except in the presence of a great mass of salt or similar preservative and absorbent and the. present invention takes advantage, of the peculiar properties derived from incorporation in this way to secure a finely blended composition substan-- tially free from oxidized and ill-smelling or even deleterious bodies formed in the pro tracted drying of onion under ordinary atmospheric pressure.

This application is a continuation of my application Serial No. 619,706-filed April 8, 1911 which has matured into Patent No. 1,002,506.

.To recapitulate, my invention consists,

broadly speaking, in the combination of alliaceous seasoning material and the like, the vegetable material preferably being in a comminuted condition or expressed form, and the salt preferably being in a finely dl'r vided state, and in drying the product preferably under a reduced or greatly reduced atmospheric pressure, and at a relatively low temperature; and ,consists mom particularly in drying the expressed juices of'the onion in combination with garlic and salt so as to form a substantially fiber free composition, having a strong characteristic odor of fresh onions or onions and garlic, the composition being rendered more flowable by the addition=of a non-hygroscopic extending material, such as starch and the like.

What I claim is 1. A composition of matter adapted for use as a seasoning material, comprising substantially-unoxidized vacuunrdried onionjuices intimately associated with an excess of common salt and carrying garlic.

' 2. A composition of matter comprising garlic, onion juice and salt, said composition being substantially free from moisture.

3. A composition of matter comprising garlic, onion juice and salt, said composition being substantially free from moisture and being in a pulverulent form.

4. As a seasoning material, a mixture comprising vacuum-dried garlic and salt.

'5. As a seasoning material, a mixture comprising vacuum-dried onion juice, garlic and salt.

6. As a seasoning material, a mixture of onion juice, garlic and salt, said composition being vacuum-dried and free from products of oxidation. 7. Asa seasoning material, a mixture of onion juice, garlic and a saline preservative in predominating amount, said composition being .pulverulent.

8, As a seasoning material, a mixture of substantially unoxidized onion juice, garlic and salt in a dry form.

9. A composition of matter adapted for use as a seasoning material, comprising substantially unoxidized vacuum dried onion juice intimately incorporated with common salt and garlic, said composition being in a dry pulverulent form.

10. A composition of matter adapted for use as a seasoning material, comprising a pulverulent product comprising vacuum dried onion juices intimately associated with common salt and a toning material as garlic.

11. A composition of matter adapted for use as a seasoning material, comprising a pulverulent product comprising vacuum dried onion juices intimately associated with common salt and garlic in finely ground 14. A composition of matter adapted for use as a seasoning material, consisting of vacuum dried onion uices and garlic intimately associated with common salt and non-hygroscopic filling material, said composition being in a dry pulverulent form and having a yellowishgreen' color.

' A seasoning composition comprising a desiccated seasoning-vegetable comprising onion and salt, said composition being pulverulent. A

16. A seasoning composition comprising a desiccated seasoning-vegetable comprising onion and a saline preservative, said composition retaining substantially the natural flavor of the seaSOning definite time.

17. A seasoning composition comprising a vacuum-desiccated seasoning-vegetable com? prising onion and a saline preservative, said composition retaining substantially the natural flavor of the seasoning-vegetable for an. indefinite time, and being ina substantially pulverulent form. v

18. A composition of matter adapted for use as a seasoning material, comprising subvegetable for an in.

.stantially unoxidized and undecomposed vacuum-dried onion juice and garlic intimately incorporated withan excess of common salt but devoid of chemical combination therewith, said composition being in a dry pulverulent form and having the odor substantially of raw fresh onion.

19. The process of making a seasoning material which consists in comminuting onions, subjecting to pressure to remove the juices thereof, combining said juices with garlic and an excess of salt, drying the product under reduced atmospheric pressure,-

mixing the dried product with non-hygroscopic'extending.material and grinding to a fine powder.

20. The process of making a seasoning material which comprises subjecting'onions to pressure to remove the juices thereof,

combining said juices with garlic and salt, drying the product under reduced atmospheric pressure and grinding to'a fine pow-.

der.

21. The rocess of making a seasoning materlal W 1011 conslsts 1n comm nuting fresh onions, subjecting to pressure to remove the juices thereof, combining thejuices or oils, to the amount of salt; in drying the material under reduced atmospheric pressure and in 'comminutmg or grinding the product to a fine powder; whereby a pulverulent product possessing the natural odor of the fresh vegetable is secured. Signed at Montclair in the county of Essex and State-of New Jersey, this 31st day of August A. D. 1911.

v CARLETON ELLIS. Witnesses:

BIRDELLA M. ELLIS, FLORENCE F. FOSTER. 

